Vulcans’ Prather
earns national honor

Star-Bulletin staff

University of Hawaii-Hilo guard Scott Prather was named a first team Arthur Ashe Sports Scholar.

Prather, a junior from Kula, Maui, helped the Vulcan basketball team to its first winning record in six seasons. He led the team in assists, steals and 3-pointers.

The business major has a 3.898 grade point average.

Isle soccer team draws at national championship

He Kini Popo played a 1-1 tie against defending champion Camp Springs (Md.) in an over-40 women's U.S. Veterans Cup soccer match at Beckley, W.V. yesterday.

Marianne Itchener scored for He Kini Popo.

Hawaii Five-O, which competes in the over-50 division, had its match postponed because of lightning.

Metzger-Wong advance at FIVB beach doubles

Hawaii's Stein Metzger and Kevin Wong earned a spot in the men's main draw of the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour stop at Gstaad, Switzerland, yesterday.

Metzger and Wong beat teams from Germany and Cuba to advance to today's main draw.

In the women's portion of the tournament, Honolulu's Danalee Bragado and teammate Ali Wood split their opening two matches against teams from Brazil but were eliminated by Germany's Stephanie Pohl and Okka Rau.

Bull riding practice today at Waimanalo stables

Bull riders can get in some practice for the Fourth of July rodeo today as the New Town and Country Stables in Waimanalo hosts a buck-out practice session.

Gates open at 6 p.m. with practice starting at 7 p.m.

The cost is $25 for one ride, $50 for two. For more information, call Patrick Ching at 259-5354.

Kids' sports camps at Honolulu Club

The Honolulu Club is offering sports camps in four- and eight-week sessions for 7- to 15-year-olds beginning tomorrow.

The camps meet Saturdays from 9 a.m. until noon at the club, which is located at 932 Ward Avenue.

The four-week sessions are tomorrow-July 14 and July 21-Aug. 11 for $90, and the eight-week session is $160.

The first session offers inline skating, racquetball, firefighting training tour and many others. The second session offers golf, hiking, tennis, wallyball and boogie boarding.

For information, call 543-3974.

Hawaii's own

Benny Agbayani, Mets: A day after starting in the third spot in the order for only the eighth time in his career, the St. Louis School and Hawaii Pacific alumnus started in the cleanup spot for just the fourth time for the ailing Mets. Agbayani was 0-8 lifetime as a cleanup hitter until he blasted a three-run homer in the first inning against Montreal's Matt Blank.

Agbayani hit Blank hard in his next two at-bats, flying out to deep left field and lining out to second. Montreal led 10-3 when Agbayani faced Guillermo Mota in the seventh inning for the eighth time in his career. Mota maintained his mastery over Agbayani, getting the left fielder to pop out to shallow left. Agbayani is now 0-8 against Mota.

Agbayani's fielding woes continued in the seventh inning, when he committed his fifth miscue of the year on a throw that allowed two runners to advance a single base each. One of them, Orlando Cabrera later scored on a sacrifice fly.

New York plays Atlanta today, where Agbayani is expected to face Odalis Perez, a pitcher he has faced five other times on the big-league stage. Agbayani has two hits, including a home run and a walk in those five chances, and has also recorded a stolen base against Perez.

Mike Fetters, Dodgers: Los Angeles had the day off yesterday, so the Iolani School graduate did not pitch. Today, the Dodgers face San Diego, whose players have never had a hit off him. Fetters has faced the Padres twice this year (the last time on April 22) and set them down in order each time.

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[What Do You Think?]

What do you think of Damien's decision to forfeit its game against St. Louis?

Damien should play

My husband is an alumnus of Damien. We have friends and family who play on the team and they are never down-hearted after playing a game against St. Louis. If anything, they are thrilled to have been given the opportunity to play against a team with such a superb record. Most football players are out there because they love the game of football and they want to play, not because they want to win.

I think that if the Damien football players want to play St. Louis, then they should be allowed to play. These boys choose to be on the football team, their parents allow them to be on the football team; therefore, they choose to deal with anything that happens to them, including injuries.

If O'Donnell is so afraid of all the injuries (statistics we've never seen), then why doesn't he push to bring back the junior varsity program so that his younger players (freshman/sophomore) can play against boys their own age instead of splitting the varsity into two divisions. It's a slap in the face for those boys in the second division (Damien/Pac-Five/Iolani). It's like telling them that they aren't good enough to play with the "Big Boys'' (Kamehameha/Punahou/St. Louis). Yes, no one likes to lose, but the boys get a real rush and feeling of accomplishment after playing a game and that shouldn't be taken away from them.

Rhonda Steinhoff

Happy to see ILH move

Being a Damien graduate, it saddens me to hear about Damien's decision to forfeit its games against St. Louis. I do, however, respect the reasons given by the Damien administration.

I'm very happy with the ILH's decision to split teams into two divisions. Hopefully, this is the start to a brighter future. My ultimate dream would be to see the merging of the ILH and the OIA like the good old days.

Paul G. Kempczenski
Honolulu